Starland County, a rural municipality in Central Alberta and alternative energy leader, created the Starland Solar Initiative to support the community in adopting renewable energy through the installation of their own solar photovoltaic systems. The County’s set out to design a program that would make solar simple to install and an attractive investment for residents. The goal? A ten year payback period – the sweet spots identified by residents when asked ‘How can we make solar work for you?’

To achieve this goal, Starland collaborated with partners and suppliers to simplify connecting to the grid at a cost that was attractive to community members. The result is the Starland Solar Initiative, an incentive program that provided residents with an installation grant of fifty cents per watt up to a maximum of $5,000. The incentive was supported by the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre and Bullfrog Power.

To date, the project has resulted in 12 solar arrays being installed throughout the County, totaling 105 kilowatts in capacity. Combined, these systems will generate 126,000 kWh/year in clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 82 tonnes/year.